Crye Precision AVS Detachable Flap M4

Words and Pics: Rich Norman

It’s always curious reviewing Crye gear because good or bad, people will buy it regardless.

However, ignoring the cool factor, for me Crye’s product range is a mixed bag of stellar, sub-optimal, and those products which fall somewhere between the two.

The AVS Detachable Flap M4 is firmly in the latter category in that it’s OK; its main recommendation being that it is AVS and JPC 2.0 compatible – two stellar plate carriers.

In this review I’m going to refer to it as the Triple, because it’s less of a mouthful.

As my shorthand suggests, this is a triple M4 mag carrier. It exhibits Velcro flaps and is AVS and JPC 2.0 compatible – as mentioned above.

Being part of the AVS ecosystem elevates its status remarkably. The AVS is still regarded by many as the best plate carrier out there, despite stiff competition from more modern PCs.

I want to say the Triple is optimised for mags with Ranger Plates or similar; and that’s a drawback if you don’t use Ranger Plates.

The reason for this is because the pouches are deep, with high cut loop Velcro which minimises the user’s grip on the mag. Mags without Ranger Plates just don’t have the required height.

However, it is relatively easy to draw a mag with a Ranger Plate in situ.

I’ve seen users get around this problem – sans Ranger Plates – by trimming the loop Velcro level with the top of the pouch. So all is not lost if you’re OK modding the Triple.

In the pic above I’ve dispensed with the flaps, tucking them inside the pouches to create a shingle. This versatility is a nice to have.

Retention is good and is applied using elastic. This stretches-out if mags are kept in the Triple for a prolonged period. This makes reindexing easier but retention remains adequate.

The Triple exhibits loops at the top of each pouch. These are meant for bungee retention, but I don’t think this method is useful for retaining mags in this implementation.

For the system to work, the item stored needs to be considerably taller than an M4 mag – even with a Ranger Plate. The pouches are way too deep otherwise.

Interestingly Crye shows this method in one of its PDFs but doesn’t show a mag in situ (perhaps because it doesn’t work very well).

But wait, there are more details…and useful ones at that.

Webbing reinforcements at the apex of each flap (high wear areas):

Tactile tube within the tip of each flap:

And…a pen holder?

No, it’s an attachment point for a QD buckle:

E.g.

So, while the Triple isn’t a genuinely exciting proposition per se, it does have its moments.

I think what I like most about it is something that’s a feature of all Crye mag pouches: the long, blunt triangle of the flap – a feature I believe is ‘borrowed’ from Australia’s SORD. Even the original Crye 330D mag pouches which were OEM’d by Eagle Industries have this feature.

Not only is it iconic, but it’s practical too. Most pouch manufacturers don’t take Ranger Plates into consideration when deciding the length of the mag flap, but Crye does.

Want more Crye reviews? You can find a whole list of them here. The list is updated as more reviews are published.